The preliminary stage of the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup has completed with both Canada and Czechia remaining undefeated.
The tournament's playoffs will begin tomorrow with placement games, with the medal games on Saturday.
Listed below are a number of storylines, an update on the QMJHL talents at the tournament, the stats and standings as well as the remaining schedule of the tournament.
Storylines
Despite coming in second in the group stages to Canada and fourth in the tournament so far, Sweden's big three in Victor Klingsell (10 points), Ivar Stenberg (9 points) and Milton Gastrin (9 points) are atop the leaderboards. It is also unclear whether Sacha Boumedienne, one of their top defensemen, will miss the remainder of the tournament as he missed the back half of last game.
Czechia's Adam Benak has the sole lead for the most points in Hlinka-Gretzky history with 18, split between last year and this past year.
Meanwhile Canada has proven to be great in all areas, with strong goaltending from Jack Ivankovic and Baie-Comeau's Lucas Beckman, strong production from Cole Reschny, Gavin McKenna and Chicoutimi's Emile Guite and an impressive defense corps fronted by Matthew Schaefer, Chicoutimi's Alex Huang and Quinn Beauchesne.
QMJHL Snapshot
While Caleb Desnoyers already put himself ahead of the pack in our 2025 Draft Summer watchlist, Emile Guite and Alex Huang have found themselves among Desnoyers as potential NHL first rounders come June of next year.
Guite has had a remarkable tournament thus far, leading the QMJHL pack with five points in his first three games at the tournament including this highlight reel snipe against Switzerland.
Meanwhile his fellow teammate from the Saguenéens, Alex Huang, has found loads of success as well, leading all QMJHL defensemen at the tournament in points. Below he takes a bad angle shot in the dying seconds of the second period, that could've led to a rebound in front to fellow QMJHLer Caleb Desnoyers but instead led to a goal as it snuck through the goaltender.
Desnoyers has had a good tournament so far as well, mostly serving as a playmaker this tournament, keeping the doctor away with an apple-a-game.
Despite producing at a lesser rate than perhaps expected, Desnoyers has been finding ways to keep himself busy by working for pucks like on this clip which led to a Guite goal.
Forwards
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Defense
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Goalies
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Player Statistics
Forwards (Top 8)
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Defense (Top 6)
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Goalies (Top 5)
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Standings
Group A (Wins-OTW-L-OTL)
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Group B
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Schedule
August 9th, 2024
5th Place Game: Team Germany vs Team Slovakia - 2 PM EST
7th Place Game: Team Switzerland vs Team Finland - 3 PM EST
Quarterfinals
Team Czechia vs Team Sweden - 5:30 PM EST
Team Canada vs Team USA - 9:30 PM EST
August 10th, 2024
Finals
Bronze: Loser of CZE/SWE vs Loser of CAN/USA - 3:30 PM EST
Gold: Winner of CZE/SWE vs Winner of CAN/US - 8 PM EST